Genetic Analysis of Major Production and Reproduction Traits of Korean Duroc, Landrace and Yorkshire Pigs

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the genetic parameters of the production and reproduction traits of Korean Duroc, Landrace, and Yorkshire pigs. Three production traits, namely average daily gain (ADG), age at 105 kg body weight (DAYS105) and backfat thickness (BFT), and three reproduction traits, namely age at first farrowing (AFF), total number of piglets born (TNB) and number of piglets born alive (NBA), were analyzed. The reproduction dataset was based on first-parity gilts only. However, the production dataset comprised pigs of both sexes. Genetic parameters were estimated from individual datasets using a multiple-trait animal model in AIREMLF90 software. The heritability values of ADG, DAYS105 and BFT were 0.34–0.36, 0.41–0.44 and 0.38–0.48, respectively, across breeds. Heritability values for AFF, TNB and NBA were 0.07–0.14, 0.09–0.11 and 0.09–0.10, respectively. Strong genetic correlations existed between ADG and DAYS105 (−0.97) and between TNB and NBA (0.90 to 0.96). In line with breeding goals, all productive traits in Duroc pigs, and all reproduction traits except AFF in Landrace and Yorkshire pigs, also showed noticeable improvements in recent years. In conclusion, we believe that our findings on economic traits would greatly assist future pig breeding decisions in Korea.